IDT Media To Offer Animated Content Production To The Toy Market
IDT Media’s Digital Production Solutions to provide high-quality 3-D animation at low cost
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Newark, N.J., January 28, 2003 -- IDT Media, through its 3-D animation production subsidiary Digital Production Solutions (DPS), today announced its entry into 3-D animation content production for the toy marketplace. IDT Media is a division of IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT.B, IDT), a multinational carrier, telephone and technology company.
Digital Production Solutions will be utilizing the proprietary technology of its Global Animation Studio to provide high-quality 3-D animation solutions at a lower cost for toy manufacturers. The Global Animation Studio will use its 3-D animation software to transform a company’s popular toys into high-quality animated TV and video productions. The Global Animation Studio’s technology provides character models with superior textures, lighting and visual effects.
“The usual trend has been for animated characters of popular movies and TV shows to be made into toys. That kind of merchandising has grown into a billion dollar industry,” said Jim Courter, CEO of IDT. "But what about those popular toys that don’t have their own TV show or movie? Through our Global Animation Studio, we can take a doll or action figure and create an entire animated production featuring that toy. We believe that this will be a lucrative new venture for IDT and a boon for the toy market.”
“With DPS, the entertainment industry is about to see an explosion of high-quality, lower cost 3-D products made especially for broadcast. Digital Production Solutions is creating the prefect environment for toy marketers unable until now to afford big studio 3-D animation,” said Morris Berger, Executive Vice President, Business Development for IDT Media. "We are looking for companies who want to take a toy’s unique character and personality and introduce it into the 3-D animation marketplace, thereby extending their brands to a level they previously thought was out of reach."
DPS recently announced a co-production agreement with Jim Jinkins and David Campbell of Cartoon Pizza, the creators of Doug, Stanley and PB&J Otter. In addition, the D.P.S. studio is currently working on production of 26 episodes of “Monster by Mistake” under an agreement with CCI Entertainment, Ltd to be broadcast worldwide. The D.P.S. studio offers producers access to international animation talent on demand for a fraction of domestic costs, and with levels of control similar to an in-house studio.
IDT Corporation, through its IDT Telecom subsidiary, is a facilities-based, multinational carrier that provides a broad range of telecommunications services to its retail and wholesale customers worldwide. IDT Telecom, by means of its own national telecommunications backbone and fiber optic network infrastructure, provides its customers with integrated and competitively priced international and domestic long distance telephony and prepaid calling cards. IDT and Liberty Media Corporation own 95% and 5 % of IDT Telecom, respectively. IDT Media is the IDT subsidiary principally responsible for the Company's initiatives in media, new video technologies and print media.
Through its various subsidiaries, IDT has interests in several telecom, Internet-related and media companies. IDT acquired the assets of Winstar Communications in December 2001. IDT Corporation common shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols IDT.B and IDT. As of December 12, 2002, there were about 54.1 million shares of Class B common stock (IDT.B) outstanding, and about 25.0 million shares of common stock (IDT). Of these, approximately 4.0 million shares of Class B common stock and approximately 5.4 million shares of common stock were held by IDT Corporation.
In this press release, all statements that are not purely about historical facts, including, but not limited to, those in which we use the words “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate, “target” and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While these forward-looking statements represent our current judgment of what may happen in the future, actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these statements due to numerous important factors, including, but not limited to, those described in our most recent report on SEC Form 10-K (under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”), which may be revised or supplemented in subsequent reports on SEC Forms 10-Q and 8-K. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following: potential declines in prices for our products and services; our ability to maintain and grow our retail telecommunications services, particularly our prepaid calling card business; availability of termination capacity; financial stability of our customers; our ability to maintain carrier agreements with foreign carriers; effectiveness of our marketing and distribution efforts; increased competition, particularly from regional bell operating companies; our ability to manage our growth; competitiveness of our Winstar subsidiary; impact of government regulation; our ability to obtain telecommunications products or services required for our products and services; and general economic conditions, particularly in the telecommunications markets. We are under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update the forward-looking statements in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact:
Gil Nielsen, IDT Corporate Communications
973-438-4100
idtdigitalmedia@corp.idt.net
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Jan 28, 2003 |
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